Park Day School

Head of Middle School Jules recently traded her office for the classroom...as a 5th grader!

With fashion advice from students, a packed backpack, and homework completed, Jules showed up ready to learn. She explored light and reflection in science, worked on a parts-of-speech presentation, and learned about historical timelines on the basketball court, all before lunch!

Her biggest takeaways? Our students work HARD, our teachers are incredible, and our kids are kind. Her new classmates quickly took her under their wing, helping her navigate classroom routines and even making sure she stayed on task!

One of the first big adventures of 6th grade takes students to the Central Coast for a few days at Camp Ocean Pines! The trip is part outdoor education, part adventure, and a chance for the whole grade to bond.

According to the 6th graders, highlights included becoming marine biologists at the touch tank, trying archery and axe throwing, hiking five miles, performing cabin skits around the campfire, making s’mores, squeezing in plenty of dance breaks, playing reverse capture the flag and an almost-whole-grade game of catch, and giving each other makeovers.

But perhaps the biggest highlight was all the wildlife they spotted on their five-mile hike. Including, somehow, a deer swimming in the ocean.

We’ve loved having families join us in classrooms the past few weeks to share some of the fall holidays they celebrate at home!

For Rosh Hashanah, we dipped apples (many picked from our own garden!) in honey for a sweet new year and listened to the different calls of the shofar. For the Mid-Autumn Festival, we made colorful lanterns and enjoyed moon cakes. And for Navratri, we spent time exploring a golu display, with dolls and figurines arranged across its tiers.

It is always such a treat to learn from one another, sharing our own traditions and celebrating those of others!

On Friday, our LS community gathered for a joyful Latine Festival filled with art, music, movement, and some really yummy food!

Thanks to the creativity and care of our teachers, students enjoyed a salsa tasting station, Venezuelan arepas, Ecuadorian jugo de caña and plantain chips, and Guatemalan rosa de jamaica and camote en miel.

They also created Guatemalan muñecas quitapenas (worry dolls), made their own papel picado, designed bracelets inspired by Mexican artists, played lotería, fútbol, and trivia, and explored instruments from across Latin America at our musical museum. Kindergarten teachers Dani and Victoria and 3rd Grade Assistant Teacher Cesar even brought some very special guests to join in: their parents and kids!

A special thank you to the teachers who shared pieces of their cultures with our larger community, our planning committee, our Mi Gente parent volunteers, and Cesar, who spearheaded the whole celebration!

Oct 17 is a big day around the East Bay! Come to the Park Day Fall Festival & Pumpkin Path at 10am, and then head to the East Bay Independent School K - 8 Fair at Museum of California right after. We'll see you at both!

“If you hear the bell ring, put your hands on your head.” Yes, even parents.

At TK Back to School Night last week, the grown-ups got a taste of the school day themselves, playing with playdough and sand, drawing, exploring, and following the same classroom routines as their kids. Then they dug into the learning happening through all that play and got a closer look at what their kids will be working on throughout the year.

That glimpse into the school day continued across our TK–4th grade and Middle School Back to School Nights, as families moved through classrooms, heard from teachers, and learned more about the questions, projects, routines, and learning their kids will encounter this year.

And in many classrooms, parents left a little something behind. The next morning, students were delighted to find notes waiting for them on their desks.

Thank you for voting Park Day School as the Best Private Elementary School and Best Progressive Middle School in Oakland for Parents Press and Oakland Magazine's 2026 Reader's Choice awards! We wear these titles with pride :)

On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, Middle School students gathered for a teach-in led by Head of Middle School Jules and 7th/8th Grade History Teacher Hal.

They began by asking students what they already knew. Students shared that they knew 9/11 was a terrorist attack and that its aftermath made life harder for many immigrants and Muslim and Arab Americans in this country. Jules then shared a video she put together of Park Day teachers remembering where they were and what they experienced that day, and students watched firsthand footage of the attacks as they built a fuller picture of what happened and its immediate impact.

Students had lots of questions and Hal dug into the larger context around the attacks, including al-Qaeda, religious fundamentalism, U.S. foreign policy, the “War on Terror", the prejudice that followed, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and their enormous human toll.

For students born more than a decade after 9/11, the teach-in was a chance to understand not only what happened that day, but how its aftermath has rippled through American culture and continues to shape the world they know.

Two weeks into the school year, and Park Day is already in full swing! Students are getting their hands dirty, building and experimenting, making art, measuring and problem-solving, going on bug-hunts, diving into electives, and finding their rhythm in new classrooms and routines.

2nd graders kicked off their first science lab by experimenting with soap and bubbles! Our bubbleologists practiced core scientific skills like careful observation, making predictions, and testing their ideas through trial and error. Together, they investigated questions like: What properties make up a bubble? Why are bubbles always round? How can you pass one from hand to hand without it popping? The final discovery? Bubbles make for some very slippery floors!